Campions, Sewards End

Campions, Sewards End

A late-medieval vernacular hall house, altered and extended in the Early Modern period, and further extended in the Edwardian era. The building is timber framed with plain tile roofs and stands two storeys high with pitched roofs terminating in gables.

The plan has evolved from a three-cell hall house to include northern and southern cross wings, comprising three perpendicular ranges. The earliest range runs east-west parallel to the road. All windows are wooden casements with leaded rectangular cames.

From the north, the long east-west range on the left contains the original hall house elements. The ground floor is walled in red brick laid in Flemish bond, possibly underbuilt and obscuring an earlier jetty. At first floor the walls are rendered. A ridge stack rises through the centre of the roof. At ground floor, a porch shelters a door from the 16th or very early 17th century with a surround carved with a cherub. On the right stands the 17th-century cross wing, which terminates in a massive stepped end-stack with a large dormer facing east on the roof.

The east elevation is a rendered gable with windows at ground and first floor, and an end-stack at the left. At the south-east corner, the hall range shows some first floor close studs pinned to the plaster but unsupported by lower timbers. The southern wing has half dormers. A 21st-century timber extension clad in weatherboard and terminated by a wall of glazing is attached to the end of the southern wing.

The south-west corner displays the western side of the Edwardian extension, which includes a porch and chimney. The south side of the hall range retains close studding at first floor, with render covering the ground floor walls.

The west end is formed by the hipped termination of the hall range and the side elevation of the northern 17th-century cross wing. Beneath the hipped roof is a close-studded first floor and a narrow, right-of-centre, end-stack. The cross wing is marked by a door with a canopy at ground floor and a pair of joined dormers at first floor.

Interior

The timber frame is largely exposed throughout and is a key feature. An open truss with a crown post roof between two closed trusses marks the location of the medieval open hall. The back-to-back ground floor fireplaces contain apotropaic marks and historic features such as salt cellars within the brickwork. Some window openings retain grooves for early shutters. Historic floorboards surviving at first floor level are likely to be original. The 17th-century northern cross wing has a blocked mullion window. Relocated linenfold panels appear at ground floor, and peg holes in beams evidence earlier internal partitions.

Campions possesses a rare set of surviving Early Modern wall paintings. Four rooms contained painted decoration into the early 20th century; two rooms of monochromatic decoration were entirely destroyed. The hall chamber reveals a glimpse of a similar scheme not entirely removed. The parlour chamber is entirely decorated with elaborate polychromatic paintings. A painted arcade of solomonic columns encloses the room, within which are painted flowers, foliage and patterns. A frieze runs above, covering the wall plates. On the south ceiling, just above the wall plate, is a cartouche inscribed "Give to the pore / Spende and be blest".